Souls of Mischief Performance In Vancouver, Canada Venue: Madison's Nitespot Date: May 15th, 1996
Ok, I must admit I was skeptical. "No Man's Land", although undoubtedly a dope second effort, was for me somewhat of a disappointment. I wasn't sure if Souls still had "it". I mean, "it" as [in] that original flavor that held me in awe every time I peeped "93 'til Infinity" over and over again. But I hooked up [a] ticket for the show here in Vancouver last night, and figured I'd peep [it]. After all, once a Hiero head always a Hiero head.
I'd seen Souls of Mischief perform a few years back, not long after the release of their debut album. They were in Ottawa, Canada on tour with De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. On that particular occasion, they basically stole the show, even from the mighty ATCQ, if you ask me. So, as I mentioned before, I was skeptical. Could SOM still pull it off like they used to? Granted it's a few years later, and a whole different type of crowd out here in Vancouver, I suppose it's a tough comparison. But, following the show last night, I would wager it's safe to say they definitely still got "it", no doubt.
Madison's Nitespot definitely was the spot on this May 15th [to be]. Although I don't recall much in detail of the beginning of the show (damn rum and Coke.. :) , Souls represented lovely, starting the show with some classic tracks from theie first album to hype the crowd a bit, including an exhilarating session of 'Batting Practice'. They followed up with some tracks from "No Man's Land" then took us straight ahead, on into a wild display of skillz straight off the dome. Some of the classics they busted which really rocked the crowd included 'Never No More', 'Ya Don't Stop', 'That's When Ya Lost' (gets better every time) [and more]. [Incidently], 'That's When Ya Lost' sent the headz in the front of the [crowd] into a frenzy!
The crowds' warm reception to "Rock it Like That" was incredible yet surprising (not that [it] ain't a dope jam). Then of course, they naturally bucked a 96 rendition of '93 'til Infinity' which had the crowd chanting "on and on and on..."
Sometime during the middle of the show, Tajai I think it was, initiated a shout to all those who "cruise the web", and proceeded to really bigup Hieroglyphics Online (now www.hieroglyphics.com). I don't know how many people in that place knew what they were talking about, but nuff people seemed to respond. Frontiers being broken all the time, I got to admit, that's the first show I've ever been to where the group has actually promoted their internet web site, and they came off proper doing it too [Ed- Hiero is the only hip-hop group to officially sponsor a web page!].
A-Plus told us after the show to expect the completion of the Hiero family album in a few months and it should be out soon, independently without any bullshit record label business. Although [copies] may then be hard to find [due to it being on an independent label], A-Plus assured us some copies would be on vinyl.
On that note...Hieroglyphics rock on...Out
By: Quizativ Date: May 16th, 1996
Copyright ©1996 StinkE Productions